After the teaser trailer for Breath of the Wild’s sequel at Nintendo’s E3 2021 Direct, there has been a great deal of speculation regarding the game’s plot. There are many details hidden in the two-minute-long trailer that suggest a number of possibilities and theories for the game.
While we don’t expect every single one of these to actually happen, it’s fun to speculate and imagine what the game could be about. We’ll have to wait until 2022 to play Breath of the Wild’s sequel, so until then, let’s have some fun letting our ideas run wild. Here are four big theories we have about the game.
Time Travel to the Sky Era
Perhaps the most popular theory floating around after the Breath of the Wild sequel trailer is that there will be time travel between two versions of Hyrule.
The first big clue for this is that we see two distinct areas in the trailer: the familiar Hyrule of Breath of the Wild with our blue-tunic hero, and floating landforms with our hero in different clothing. The floating landmasses are extremely reminiscent of the ones in Skyward Sword, which makes us think these parts might be from the Sky Era.
We also get a glimpse of new enemies in these sky areas that are eerily similar to some of the ancient robot tech from Skyward Sword. Since Skyward Sword is the first game in the Zelda series chronologically, this could mean we may be visiting that ancient era. It would also explain why Nintendo decided to remaster Skyward Sword this year.
Additionally, at the end of the trailer, we see a small puddle of water on Breath of the Wild’s Hyrule that evaporates up into the air, morphs into our hero, and goes right through a sky structure. Since water usually falls down, not flies up into the air, could this be another form of time traveling backward to get to the Sky Era?
We see a lot of possibility for time travel here, and it would be very surprising if it isn’t implemented into Breath of the Wild’s sequel in some capacity.
The Hand Gives Link Power
It’s pretty obvious — there’s something going on with hands in Breath of the Wild’s sequel. Between the original teaser trailer in 2019 and the E3 2021 trailer, we see many different hands with seemingly incredible power within them.
In the 2019 teaser trailer, we first saw a glowing turquoise hand with gold bracers keeping what looked to be an ancient Ganondorf sealed. We also saw Link grab Zelda’s hand, the glowing turquoise hand grab Link’s hand, and Link’s hand turn the same glowing color.
That’s a lot of hands.
In the E3 2021 trailer, we saw what looks to be Link’s hand glowing the same turquoise color, but this time with the bracers, just like the one that had Ganondorf sealed. Finally, we saw our hero using the same hand to cast stasis, similar to how Link used the Sheikah Slate in Breath of the Wild.
Clearly, there’s some sort of power that is transferred from the hand sealing Ganondorf to our hero in Breath of the Wild’s sequel that allows him to use the Shiekah abilities that were used in the first game.
As for the hand that seals Ganondorf… Is it Link from a past era? Is that who saves present-day Link? If that’s the case, we could have some Back to the Future-like timeline mixing going on here.
If that’s too complex, perhaps it’s some sort of ancient Sheikah keeping Ganondorf sealed who then transfers the power to Link. If that happens, though, that would mean the glowing hand would have had to let go of Ganondorf, meaning he’s free from the seal once again…
Playable Zelda
For as long as the Legend of Zelda has been around, many fans have been asking for Princess Zelda to be playable in a mainline game in the series. While it’s unlikely that will be happening in Breath of the Wild’s sequel, there are a few theories that gently suggest it could be possible after all.
For one, we never see the hero’s face in the sky portions of the trailer. While it’s possible that it’s a total coincidence, or that Nintendo is trying to hide something innocent like a scar on Link’s face, it’s also possible that this hero might not even be Link at all.
Additionally, the hero here has a brand new outfit and longer hair. It’s about the same length as Princess Zelda’s short hair (and perhaps they gave her a cute new haircut to make it easier to animate?). There’s a possibility that we could play as Zelda in certain parts of the game, such as underground where she falls — or in the sky, and simply play as Link in the regular Hyrule of Breath of the Wild.
The major thing that debunks this theory is that we can see Link’s blue earring on the long-haired hero’s ear. That being said, in each of the long-haired hero shots, the character doesn’t have a sword equipped. It makes sense that Zelda would choose to use magic and a bow and arrow instead of a sword like Link.
Even though this theory is a bit of a stretch, since there could be other reasons why we never see the hero’s face, it’s fun to think about the possibility of Princess Zelda finally being playable in some capacity.
The Zonai Are Involved
You may have heard or seen the word Zonai floating around after the Breath of the Wild 2 trailer, and it would be for good reason. There’s a strong possibility that they will have a big role to play in the game.
If you’re not aware, the Zonai are a prehistoric tribe of barbarians that are alluded to in the original Breath of the Wild. Nobody has ever seen them, but they’ve left behind evidence of their existence in several areas of the game. They lived primarily in the Zonai Ruins in the Faron Region, and the Barbarian armor set is based on the Zonai tribe’s garb.
There is a distinct spiral logo for the Zonai that appears not only in Breath of the Wild but also in both sequel trailers, suggesting that this prehistoric tribe may play an important role. We also see many structures in the sequel trailer that look exactly the same as the pillars in the Zonai Ruins in the Faron Region.
If the first theory we discussed regarding time travel ends up being true and we find ourselves in a prehistoric Hyrule, it’s very possible we could meet members of the Zonai.
Hopefully, we’d get to see how the Zonai interacted with the Sheikah, who had rivaling technology back then. And maybe we’d even learn what happened to the Zonai in the past for them to be completely wiped from existence in the present.
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